Team Bonding
by jheyjette
Summary: When a storm causes the dan to cancel an outdoor outing, they decide to try their hand at playing "Capture the Flag" indoors.


A/N: Since it's August 15th, I decided to write some dan-bonding fluff, because you can never have enough fluff.

* * *

Shintaro knew that he should have stayed home. As soon as dark, foreboding cumulus clouds appeared amidst the previously sunny skies, Shintaro should have dashed off to the safety of his room right then and there.

"But we promised!" Momo exclaimed, aghast that her brother would even consider going back on his word. They were supposed to meet with the dan and have an outdoor picnic in the park that day. It had been Ene's idea:

"Master needs more sun! If this keeps up, he'll end up looking even paler than a ghost!"

Mary shrieked at the very mention of the word "ghost", and with Kano's lack of comforting words ("Well, since gorgons exist, ghosts shouldn't be too far-fetched!") and Kido's even less reassuring stance on the existence of spirits, the group had decided that yes, Shintaro needed to be saved from his impending fate as a ghost…despite still being very much alive.

Shintaro sighed, looking away as he attempted to ignore his sister's pleading eyes, but after hearing Ene and Momo's combined pleas, Shintaro eventually broke.

"Fine. Alright. But don't come crying to me if we end up having to stay stuck indoors because of the weather."

* * *

They were stuck indoors.

They'd probably have to stay the night.

Momo and Ene weren't the least bit disappointed, in fact, they seemed _ecstatic_. Not that the rest of the dan seemed to be any less excited at the turn of events. Kido had already gone off to set out extra futons and Mary had excitedly skipped to her room to grab some snacks to share.

"You know, a sleep-over sounds nice and all;" Kano began, and Shintaro was already dreading whatever idea Kano was planning to lay out, "But what are we going to do before we sleep? It's only three, and there's _no way_ I'm sleeping this early."

"We could watch some movies," Seto suggested, to which Shintaro vigorously agreed with. But Kano shook his head in disagreement.

"You're thinking too small, Seto! It's not every day that the mekakushi dan all sleep under one roof like this! This calls for a celebration! A game! Something big!"

"Ooh! Ooh! I have an idea!" Ene yelled excitedly, and Shintaro knew, he just _knew_ that any hope of having a peaceful, normal sleep-over was thrown out the window the minute those two decided to collaborate together.

"Heh, I like your enthusiasm, Ene-chan! What do you have in mind?"

"How about a game of capture the flag? Boys versus girls, loser has to do the winner's bidding!"

"Oh-ho~ Not a bad idea, Ene-chan!"

Shintaro paled at the thought, already formulating a plan of escape.

"What's wrong, Shintaro?" Seto asked, blissfully unaware of the sheer danger he was in being within Ene and Kano's vicinity. "Are you sick? You don't look so good."

Before Shintaro could unload his arguments against Ene and Kano's collaboration, Momo let out an excited whoop, jumping up and down in glee. "Capture the flag?! I've always wanted to play that! Can we do it Leader? Can we?"

Kido looked at the idol apprehensively, anxious as to what Kano had planned should the boys' team win. She spared a glance at Shintaro, who shot her a pleading look to _please don't go along with whatever those two sadists have concocted together;_ but the hopeful looks that Momo, Mary, and even _Hibiya_ (who tried his best not to look _too_ hopeful, probably too embarrassed to admit to being interested in playing any sort of game), Kido reluctantly agreed. She shot Shintaro an apologetic look as the latter hung his head in defeat.

"Yeeeees!" Ene cheered excitedly, pumping her baggy sleeves excitedly. "Alright, I'll be the referee, so all of you kids better play fair! Walkie talkies are a-okay, but cell phones are prohibited! And no outside help is allowed! Are we clear? Any questions? Ah, do you have a question Master?"

"Yes, uh, where do we get walkie talkies?"

"Don't worry about that," Kano replied excitedly, hauling an old box marked "TOYS" from the hallway closet, "We've got you covered."

—

"Black Cat is in position, do you read?"

"Green Frog is also in position."

"White Stag is in position. I think. Probably."

"Red Jersey is getting there, don't rush me. And why am I the only one with a code name like this?! And Konoha, what do you mean by _probably_?!"

"Well…I'm not sure. But I think I'll be okay. Probably."

"Calm down Shintaro-kun;" Kano began, chuckling in obvious delight, "you shot down all of our other ideas."

"All of your suggestions were insects! Who would want to be associated with insects?!"

"Well, Ene-chan suggested a raccoon, but you shot that down too."

"She chose that for all the wrong reasons."

"Wrong reasons? Ah, you mean like how racoons tend to free-load and have dark cir-"

"Ugh! That's enough! I'm in position, happy?!"

Kano's loud chuckling could be heard over the line, and Shintaro did his best to suppress thoughts of choking the younger boy.

"Kano, I think that's enough", Seto said, blessed saint that he is; "Besides, if you two keep it up with all that arguing, our positions are going to be given away. We're a team, we have to stay united."

"Seto;" Kano began, in between his chuckling, "you've been reading more of those sports manga, haven't you?"

"Maybe."

* * *

"Purple Rabbit is in position."

"U-um, Pink Rose is in position!"

"Orange Cow is in position!"

"Baby Blue Bird is in position…Wait, why am I in the girls' group?!"

"It can't be helped;" Momo began, "the boys outnumber us by one, plus, Ene can't play since she doesn't have a physical body. Besides, if anybody should be upset about our current situation, it should be me. Why am I a cow?! An _orange_ cow! Cows aren't orange!"

"Well, it can't be helped;" came Hibiya's mocking response, "You wanted a color _and_ an animal that suited you."

"How does a cow suit me?!"

"Kisaragi, don't worry about it. Rabbits aren't purple either, but that's the codename that I'm stuck with, too."

"U-um, I'm not even an animal! So, I'm also…kind of different."

"Because you all _insisted_ that I keep the word 'Baby' in my code name, mine is two syllables longer than necessary."

Momo sighed, happy that her friends were at least trying to comfort her, and glad to know that she wasn't the only one discontent with her codename. She settled down after that…At least until she remembered who had suggested the name "Orange Cow" in the first place…

"Hey…Hibiya-ku-"

Before Momo could finish her sentence, a flash of red caught her eye. She'd recognize that old jersey anywhere. Momo kept her voice to as soft a whisper as she could manage; "I spotted Red Jersey, I'm going in."

Kido made a sound of affirmation, "Alright, be careful."

Momo nodded, then mentally chided herself for doing so since her action couldn't be conveyed through the walkie talkie. Quietly shaking her head to clear it of any unnecessary thoughts, she carefully crawled underneath the kitchen table, slowly making her way to her older brother on the other side of the room. She quietly observed him as he anxiously paced around the kitchen. Knowing her brother, he'd probably forgotten what position he'd been assigned and was now panicking. Just his luck, he happened to be in enemy territory too. Momo felt slightly bad for him, but unfortunately for Shintaro, his little sister happened to be the type to take advantage of such weaknesses. Swiftly tumbling from underneath her hiding spot, Momo lunged at her unsuspecting brother and tackled him to the ground…Or so she thought.

"You miscalculated."

Momo slowly looked up to find her brother looking down at her smugly.

"Geez, Momo, if you'd paid more attention in class, you would have realized that if you'd gone in point five seconds sooner, you would have made it in time."

"W-wait! Hold up! Now's not the time for math! Besides, it's not over yet! You're still in enemy territory and-"

"Momo, I'm doing this for your own good! Now, just as a refresher, if you had seen me one point eight seconds earlier, what would have been the best time for you to try and tackle me?"

"H-huh? E-eight point…um carry the one…add four…"

"Four?! Where did four even come from?! Are you even taking this seriously?!"

"W-wait! I'm not done!" U-uh…the eight and…and…" Momo could literally feel her brain overheat as numbers and calculations began to blurry her vision.

"This is your host, Super Pretty Idol Girl, Ene-chan! First blood has been drawn, and in the ultimate clash of sibling rivalry, Master emerges victorious through the use of complicated math formulas!"

* * *

Kano looked up from his seat as Shintaro dragged a disgruntled Momo back to their base.

"Oh, Shintaro, good job! I knew you had it in you!"

Shintaro grunted in reply as he led Momo to a make-shift jail cell made up of pillows stacked together. The poor girl was still trying to figure out the last problem he'd given her. Kano could see smoke literally rising from her head. Her brain must be on over-drive.

"Wow. I can't believe you seriously beat her by using math equations."

"It's not like a meant to. I really _was_ checking to see if she'd been paying attention to her summer classes. It wouldn't do her any good if she had to repeat a year. Anyway, is the flag safe?"

Kano nodded; "Yep! No one's been in and out of this room since the game began. And even if the rest of the girls' members make it in here, there's _no way_ they'll be able to find it in my super special secret hiding spot!"*

Shintaro stared at him blankly before turning to head out the room; "Well, as long as you're sure it's safe. I'll go switch positions with Se- er, I mean, Green Frog. Take care of Momo."

"You can count on me, Red Jersey!"

Shintaro cringed at the use of the unwanted codename, but continued to carry on after sparing one last worried glance at his sister…who was now trying to figure out how to add x to pi. Shintaro didn't even want to know how or why she had added pi and x to the equation.

* * *

Seto trudged quietly and carefully as he made his way to Mary's room. He ducked behind a shelf, then warily poked his head at as he looked to his left, then to his right, making sure that the neither Kido or Hibiya were in sight. Once he was sure that the coast was clear, he quietly ambled towards Mary's room.

It had been Shintaro who had deduced that Mary would be the most likely flag keeper. Being the weakest physically, both Shintaro and Kano agreed that Kido would have her do the least taxing job.

"Green Frog is in position. I'm going in."

"Copy that," came Kano's voice, and Seto just _knew_ that the shorter teen was wearing a triumphant smirk, "but remember, if it comes down to it, don't be afraid to use your ability."

Seto paused, confused; "What do you mean?"

Kano sighed exasperatedly on the other line, "Ene-chan never said anything against using our powers, right? So chances are, Mary's going to use hers the minute she sees you. When that happens, read her mind and dig up some info for us to use. You'll only be frozen temporarily, so once you're free, use whatever info you got from reading her mind against her."

"….."

"Seto? Come on, I know you don't like using your powers, but…Think of it this way. You'll be helping the team."

"Can't I just ask some of my animal friends for help?"

"Ene-chan said that we can't ask for help from outsiders, remember?"

Seto sighed in defeat and begrudgingly agreed to Kano's plans.

* * *

As this exchange was going on, Mary was going over the plans the Kido and Hibiya had laid out for her should any trespasser come and try to claim their flag.

"U-um…Freeze the enemy as they come in…and then…and then…um…" Mary's line of thought was cut short as she heard the knob to her room turn. She shivered in fear as she dove behind the pillows on her bed. She slowly peeked from behind her fortress of pillows, trying to catch a glimpse of her would-be opponent.

"U-um, hello?"

Mary brightened at the familiar sound of Seto's voice. "Seto-kun!" Tossing aside the pillows that had shielded her, Mary bounded off the bed and made a beeline towards Seto's position. "I'm so glad it's you! I was worried I'd have to face someone like Kano-san!"

"Mary, stop!"

Mary froze in her tracks, surprised by Seto's sudden sharp tone. "Seto-kun?"

"I'm sorry, Mary, but I'm here to take your flag."

Mary was silent for a moment, anxiously debating what action she should take next. _If it were Kano-san, I'd have no problem freezing him…But to freeze Seto-kun…_

"Mary", Seto began, cutting off Mary's earlier thoughts, "I'm sorry, but I'm doing this for the team. Please don't think badly of me." He lifted his head ever so slowly, revealing bright, red eyes. Mary's eyes widened in fear in panic…She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and calming down as she recalled another piece of advice Kido had relayed to her.

"If you run into Seto, he might use his power on you. He's a team player, always has been. He's the type that takes these kinds of things seriously. So if he you _do_ end up facing him, think of anything, _anything_ , that'll take him by surprise. When that happens, use that opportunity to freeze him. Got it?"

Mary opened her eyes with newfound confidence and determination. _Alright,_ _then just like Seto-kun, I'll become a team player as well. I'll help lead my team to victory! Surprising thought…Surprising thought…Ah, like that plot twist from that manga-_

Seto's face grew bright red as he looked at Mary with disbelieving eyes, "M-Mary…You…You read that kind of stuff?"

It was then that Mary belatedly realized what she had done. "Wh-Wha?! Seto-kun, _no_! That's! Um! Ahhhhhh!"

In that moment of confusion, Mary's eyes had gone bright red, freezing her opponent in place.

Ene's energetic voice cackled excitedly throughout the apartment as she excitedly announced; "Green Frog is down! Defeated with the power of BL!"

Mary's cries of despair could be heard throughout the entire building.

* * *

Kido sighed in relief as she slunk down the wall; "Good job, Mary. Leave the rest to us." With newfound resolve, Kido raised herself up and headed towards Kano's room. Using his ability, Hibiya had managed to pinpoint exactly where Kano had hidden his team's flag.

"Ah."

If only that giant eating machine would get out of her way.

Konoha stared blankly at Kido as he absently munched on a negima. As to how he managed to procured such an item, Kido thought it best not think too hard about it. Kido lifted her head so that she could meet Konoha's eyes. As she activated her power, Konoha's eyes widened, and with one last bite of his negima, immediately went into a defensive position.

Kido easily slipped past him as the white haired teen continued to stay in place, eyes darting around all corners of the room in a vein attempt to locate her. As Kido stifled an amused chuckle, an alarmingly loud _smoosh_ sound echoed throughout the room. Kido jerked her head towards the source of the sound and resisted the urge to face palm upon realizing that she had stepped on Konoha's remaining negima. "How wasteful…"

"Ah! There you are!"

Kido instantly paled upon belatedly realizing her mistake. She attempted to reactivate her ability once more, but she was too slow, or rather, Konoha was _too freaking fast_. He'd caught up to her in an instant and had successfully grabbed her wrist.

"I did it!" he yelled excitedly.

Kido was torn between praising Konoha for his efforts (a rarity in itself since all the older boy ever seemed interested in doing was sleep and eat) and bemoaning her own clumsiness.

"Aaaaaaaanddddd Purple Rabbit is out! With two members captured, the boys' team takes the lead! Ah, Konoha! Stop crying! I'll order you another negima, okay?"

Well, at least now Kido knew where Konoha was getting his never-ending supply of negima.

—

Kano chuckled, no - _cackled-_ as news of Kido's capture reached his ears. He turned to Shintaro with a victorious grin, "Welp, now that the most troublesome member of the girls' team is out, our victory has been insured!"

"I don't think so."

"Hm, what makes you say that, Red Jersey?"

Ignoring the distasteful nickname, Shintaro pressed on, "I think the remaining two members may be the most difficult to contend with. Think about it, Mary can freeze any one with one look and Hibiya has _clairvoyance,_ he could be monitoring us right this minute."

Kano eye's widened in realization; "So that means…he might know where I hid the flag…"

"Right…Since Mary is guarding their flag, Hibiya's most likely going to head for our flag. He's pretty smart, so we shouldn't underestimate him."

Kano nodded in agreement, face set in a rare, serious expression. The boys jerked their heads to the direction of the door as it slid open. "I caught Kido!"

Shintaro sighed in exasperation…Shouldn't having some like Konoha on their team be considered cheating?

* * *

"Having someone like Konoha on their team should be considered cheating"; Hibiya proclaimed with a huff as he grumpily took a seat on the edge of Mary's bed. Seto stood motionless by the door, being far too heavy for Mary to drag to their make-shift jail cell. The raven haired teen hadn't moved an inch since Mary froze him, though Hibiya was sure that enough time had lapsed for him to be unfrozen by now. The brunet spared him one more worried glance before turning his attention back to his teammate.

Mary nodded sadly in agreement, fidgeting worriedly as her confidence in winning the game slowly diminished. "Without Kido-san and Momo-chan…There's no way we can win…"

"That's not true!"

Mary looked up at Hibiya in surprise as the shorter boy abruptly stoop up. "We can still win! Don't count us out of the game yet!"

"B-but…With just the two of us, how could we beat the boys' team?"

Hibiya knitted his brows together in thought, mouth puffing slightly in a pout. He looked like an adorably frazzled kitten, but Mary wisely decided to keep this comment to herself.

"I got it!" He turned to face Mary excitedly with the widest grin she'd ever seen him wear. "Alright Pink Rose, listen carefully…"

* * *

Opting to use their numbers against their remaining enemies, Shintaro and Konoha warily made their way towards the girls' territory. As they approached the door to Mary's room, Shintaro turned to Konoha, placing a finger to his lips. _Be quiet_ _ **,**_ he mouthed. Konoha nodded back, mirroring Shintaro's actions.

Predicting Hibiya's actions had been the trickiest part of planning their strategy, but Shintaro's high IQ wasn't just for show. Steeling himself, he opened the door.

It happened in a flash.

Konoha sped forward, capturing and embracing Mary before she could freeze either of them. Shintaro wasted no time and began searching furiously for the girls' flag. Hibiya was nowhere in sight, something that endlessly bothered Shintaro as he continued his search. He didn't have to worry about the younger boy capturing either of them, Konoha would simply outrun him and capture him the same way he capture Mary. Unless…

Shintaro quickly grabbed hold of his walkie talkie; "Kano! Don't let your guard down, Hibiya's-"

"Already here."

* * *

Kano turned off the walkie talk before Shintaro could utter a reply, focusing his full attention on the brunet in front of him.

"So, Baby Blue Bird? How do you plan to snatch the flag away from me? You may know where it is, but you should know me well enough by now that getting past me won't be easy."

Hibiya narrowed his eyes in retaliation, fists clenched determinedly as he walked forward.

"Oh-hoh~ What a scary expression!"

"Kano!" The aforementioned teen didn't turn at the sound of his name, wary enough to not give Hibiya even the slightest of openings, but Kido could tell that he was giving him her attention by the way his back had straightened. "Don't be too hard on him."

Kano chuckled, amused by Kido's unrelenting concern over others despite currently being held captive. But what really made Kano want to sit down and cackle the afternoon away was the contrast between Kido's serious expression and Momo's near brain-dead expression as the younger Kisaragi continued to mutter math formulas under her breath.

Kano gave a slight nod in affirmation. Regarding the shorter boy with a mischievous grin, Kano stepped closer, narrowing the gap between them by mere centimeters.

"I'm sure you didn't come in here blindly without a plan. So? Go on, let me have it."

"You asked for it."

Unclenching his fists, Hibiya pulled out what appeared to be a small black book from his shorts pocket. Kano's eyes widened upon recognizing it.

"Thats-"

"Your diary. Are you forgetting? I have clairvoyance. Locating your flag isn't the only thing I can do." Wearing what he hoped was a feral grin but appeared more like a lion cub baring its still-growing fangs, Hibiya opened the black book as he flipped through the pages.

"Now, if you don't want me to announce your deepest, darkest secrets to the rest of the dan, you'll kindly hand over you flag without a fight."

"Heh, go ahead"; Kano challenged, not the least bit worried about the book's contents.

Hibiya's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he scanned the book's contents.

 _Month x Day xx_

 _Today, Shintaro bought me cotton candy. It was soft and tasty. I wonder if clouds taste like this._

 _Month x Day xx_

 _Kido scolded me for eating more than my share. Seto said that it was fine, but I apologized to him anyway. Also, Seto doesn't seem to like meat. I wonder why? Meat is delicious._

 _Month x Day xx_

 _Hibiya got mad when I carried him today. He said that -_

"Wh-what?! This is -! But your's-! Kano-!"

"Are you forgetting that our strategist is a genius with an absurdly high IQ? He saw through your plan and switched my diary with Konoha's. He figured Konoha probably didn't have any secrets worth worrying over. Oh, and by the way, this was a distraction."

Hibiya's eyes widened as he turned to the sound of labored breathing. Shintaro stood by the door's frames, taking in ragged breaths. The older teen looked as if he'd run a hundred mile marathon, though Hibiya was sure he'd probably only run a short distance. The guy really needed to get out more.

"Yo, you sure took your sweet time, huh Red Jersey?"

Once again ignoring the nickname, Shintaro slowly brought up his left hand - revealing a pink flag. He flashed Kano a triumphant smirk before collapsing in a heap on the floor.

"In a surprising turn of events, the least athletically-inclined member of the boys' team has brought victory for his team! Congratulations Master!"

* * *

The smell of sweets and snacks wafted throughout the apartment as the group gathered around the dining table, Momo and Seto now fully recovered. All eyes turned to Shintaro, eagerly awaiting his explanation for his victory against the girls' team.

Shintaro, never one to enjoy the spotlight, fidgeted nervously under everyone's expectant gazes. "Um…well… I figured out that Hibiya would be the one to face off with Kano since Mary isn't very athletic…"

Mary puffed her cheeks at that comment, but otherwise didn't argue with the taller teen.

"And I knew that Hibiya wouldn't just blindly go after our flag without a plan. He's a lot smarter than we give him credit for." Shintaro smiled encouragingly at the younger boy as he said this, not missing the embarrassed blush that dusted his cheeks. "Figuring in his eye ability, I knew he'd probably use it to locate something that he could use against us. So I asked Kano if there was anything of importance that he kept hidden outside of his room. That's when he told me about his diary."

"Wait a sec"; Kido interrupted with slightly flailing hands; "Kano, since when did you start keeping a diary?"

"Hm? I've had it since before we met. But Leader, what's with that face your making? Is it so surprising that I've got my own secrets I'd rather keep private?"

Kido made a choking sound at that, blushing furiously in embarrassment. "N-no, I suppose not…"

Coughing into his fist, Shintaro brought the group's attention back to him; "Anyway, we found out that Konoha had a diary of his own too, so we decided to switch his with Kano's."

Hibiya looked to Konoha with a frown; "Where'd you get the diary?"

"Kano bought it for me when we were doing errands. Since I don't remember much, Kano thought it might help improve my memory."

Hibiya's eyes widened in surprise, then turned to the older teen; "That was nice of you."

"The fact that you're so surprised over me doing something nice kind of hurts…."

"B-but, um…" Mary shyly lifted her head as the room's attention turned to her; "How did you find our flag?"

"Um, well, I just thought of the last place you'd expect us to look. So I looked through your books and…"

Mary's face quickly reddened as she flailed her arms about; "A-ah! So you found it in my book shelf! Ah ha ha ha! I should have picked a better hiding spot!"

Seto looked at Mary questioningly; "Your book shelf was the last spot you expected us to check? But why-"

Ene coughed into her sleeve as she nodded her head excitedly, "So in short, Master outsmarted a twelve year old grade schooler! Great job master!"

Shintaro and Hibiya both shot unamused glares in Ene's direction. "Now, now, don't look at me like that! More importantly, since the boys' team won, they can now request the girls to do _whatever_ they want!"

The girls' team paled upon remembering that conditioned. Kano flashed a mischievous smile that sent a shiver down their spines. "Well then, how about we have the girl-"

"I want more negima!"

"Burn every BL book in existence."

"…Cola."

"Eh?! What are you guys saying?! We only get one request! Think big! Asking for food and drinks, are you kidding me?! And Seto, I'm sorry, but that request is impossible."

Kido stood up, quickly latching onto Konoha and Shintaro's requests. Alright, then! I'll cook us up a feast for dinner, negima included of course. And Shintaro, we have the cans of cola in the fridge, have as much as you want!"

The two teens beamed at that, satisfied with their simple requests. Kano despaired. "B-but, what about my request?! What about making Kido wear a skirt?!"

Kido turned to give Kano an icy glare; "We're fulfilling only one request. JUST. ONE."

"Y-yes ma'am."

Momo breathed a sigh of relief; "I'm so glad Konoha and onii-chan aren't unreasonable people."

* * *

Dinner was a lively affair as chatter and laughter filled the room. Before long, futons were set up in the middle of the living room. Too tired to even initiate a pillow fight, the group all settled down, the girls on one side, the boys on the other. They were all fast asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.

When Shintaro woke up to a ceiling that looked nothing like the one in his bedroom, he did a double take, fearing that he may have gone all the way to the dan's apartment in his sleep. But upon seeing Konoha and Hibiya's sleeping faces next to him (there was absolutely _no way_ Shintaro would ever allow himself to sleep next to Kano); he recalled yesterday's events. He recalled how he had thought that staying the night would be a hassle, how expending more energy than necessary in playing a childish game would be another hassle, and how he hadn't even wanted to leave home in the first place. As he settled back down, closing his eyes, he thought of how wrong he was. Of how much _fun_ he'd had. He drifted back to sleep, dreaming and hoping that such peaceful days would last forever.

* * *

*Kano's super secret hiding spot: The hood of his parka.

* Mary's super secret hiding spot: A BL book.


End file.
